Importing this into Auction Flex (desktop)

Auction Flex imports lots and photographs in two separate steps: the lots from the spreadsheet, then the photographs from a folder.

This file holds 69 lots and 69 photographs.

Steps

1. Back up first. In Auction Flex: Miscellaneous, System Maintenance, Backup.
2. Unzip the file you downloaded. You will have inventory-import.csv and a folder called images.
3. Make sure every consignor already exists in Auction Flex with the code Lotdesk wrote in the Consignor/Vendor Code column. Auction Flex skips a lot whose code it does not know.
4. Open Auction Lots & Preview and click Import Lots (Inventory Import).
5. Step 1, File Selection: click the ... button and choose inventory-import.csv.
6. Step 2, Field Mapping & Options: add the fields from Available Fields to Fields included with file to import in this order: Lot#, Consignor/Vendor Code, Lead/Title, Description1, Quantity, Ship, Full Category, Start Bid Each, Total Reserve, Min Est Each, Max Est Each, Long UDF1. Use the green up and down arrows to fix the order.
7. Step 3, Field Mapping Review: tick Skip First Row When Importing, because the file has a header row. A description with line breaks may show over several rows in the preview; it still imports as one description.
8. Step 4, Miscellaneous Options: choose the auction the lots go into. If a consignor code is not found the record is skipped; you can enter a fallback code here.
9. Step 5, Image Options: choose Do Not Use. The photographs come in separately.
10. Step 6: click Import Inventory. Auction Flex tells you how many items it imported; compare that with the lot count on this page.
11. Photographs: open Batch Image Import and select the images folder (the folder the files are in, extracted from the ZIP). Set Assigning Images by to Auction + Lot #, choose the auction, and choose an Existing Image Mode: Remove Existing Images Prior to Importing for a clean import, or Append.
12. A sale with more than 1,000 photographs is split into numbered folders (01_, 02_, ...) of up to 1,000 files each. Run Batch Image Import once for each folder.

Columns in the file, in order

1. Lot#
2. Consignor/Vendor Code
3. Lead/Title
4. Description1
5. Quantity
6. Ship
7. Full Category
8. Start Bid Each
9. Total Reserve
10. Min Est Each
11. Max Est Each
12. Long UDF1

Good to know

- The photographs are named {lot}-{n}.jpeg: 771-1.jpeg is the first photograph of lot 771, 771-2.jpeg the second. A sublot keeps its letter: 27A-1.jpeg.
- Long UDF1 carries the condition note. Auction Flex has no condition field of its own; any user-defined long field will do.
- The reserve is in the Total Reserve column. This file is the house's own: do not post it anywhere a bidder can read it.
- Start Bid Each, Min Est Each and Max Est Each are per item. Lotdesk keeps them per lot; lots with a quantity above 1 are listed in warnings.txt.
